Sitting down Daniel Bard not a wild idea

John TomaseMonday, June 04, 2012

Credit: AP

Red Sox pitcher Daniel Bard, left, talks to catcher Kelly Shoppach and pitching coach Bob McClure during the second inning of a baseball game against the Toronto Blue Jays, Sunday, June 3, 2012, in Toronto.

TORONTO — Invoking these names almost feels cruel. But once every few seasons, they’re all that will do.

And watching Daniel Bard throw the ball pretty much everywhere except over the plate yesterday, it was hard to conjure anyone except Rick Ankiel and Steve Blass.

We do not make such references lightly. They’re to pitchers what Voldemort was to the Harry Potter universe — They Who Must Not Be Named.

They’re the symbols of limitless potential derailed by an inability to throw a strike. And while it would of course be rash to christen Bard their heir in the wake of one horrible outing, it’s important to depict honestly exactly how bad he was yesterday.

He was Ankiel bad. He was Blass bad. He was so bad, it’s a blessing he didn’t seriously injure one of the Blue Jays. When manager Bobby Valentine lifted him in the second after six walks and two hit batters, it was an act of mercy.

“The last thing I wanted to see was anyone else get hurt,” Valentine said.

Now the Red Sox face their first real crossroads two months into this attempt to convert Bard from a dominant reliever into a starter. Do they stick with this? Do they return him to the bullpen? Do they find an injury and disable him to let him clear his head?

Whatever they do, letting him make his next start later this week seems like a bad idea.

“I’ll think about it awhile,” Valentine said. “I have some time. Regretfully, it’s going to have to take up an off day, but I’ll think about it awhile.”

Daisuke Matsuzaka is ready and waiting after two solid starts to open his second 30-day rehab stint. He has allowed three hits and a run in 101â„3 innings and hasn’t started since Thursday. He could be well-rested when Bard’s next turn comes around on Saturday against the Nationals, if the Red Sox choose to go that route.

“It’s too soon right now to really answer that question,” Bard said.

It’s not too soon to worry about Bard, whose ERA soared to 5.34, and whose fastball remained strangely pedestrian. He topped out at 93 mph and spent most of his brief outing at 91. Those readings were particularly perplexing given the 95 mph heater he featured in his last start.

“That wasn’t the fastball he had last time,” Valentine said. “I was hoping he was going to build on that. It was nowhere near him.”

Bard opened the game with eight balls in his first 10 pitches and that might have been the high point. He threw just eight of his 31 fastballs for strikes, tossed two pitches to the backstop, and watched one of his few strikes sail over the left field fence for a three-run homer by Jose Bautista.

It was a disaster of Michael Bay proportions.

“I allowed something to happen when I switched roles,” Bard said. “Maybe we tried to turn me into a starter rather than just taking the same pitcher I was out of the ’pen and moving that guy to the rotation. That’s probably what should have been done. It’s partially my fault. It’s all my fault.”

Now, it’s up to Bard and the Red Sox to fix it. If the problem is simply mechanical, it can be corrected and we’ll never mention the unmentionable pitchers again. Bard has already bounced back from a horrific debut at Single-A Lancaster in 2007, when he allowed 23 runs on 21 hits and 22 walks in just 131â„3 innings.

If it turns into something else, though, we’ll be replicating Valentine’s thought process before sending Bard back out for the second yesterday: “Hoping against hope.”